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Rent right

A leasehold is likely your best option if you don't have a lot of money to put into building a new facility or you're in an urban area where prime land just isn't up for grabs. With leaseholds, you can get the space you need to establish a new practice. And while there are certain restrictions, you can still put your imprint on the design.

One big advantage of leaseholds is that you aren't left with the headache of a real estate transaction. So you can focus more of your energy on getting your new business off the ground. Leaseholds require a smaller financial investment than building from the ground up, too. "We wanted to invest the capital we had into starting our business—not real estate," says Stacy Nigrelli, co-owner of Integrative Pet Care in Chicago. Still, there are tradeoffs.

For one thing, if you decide to sell your business, you can't sell the building. You can only sell the practice and the improvements you've made. Drs. Erica Runkle and Jill Levy, owners of the Coal Mine Animal Hospital in Littleton, Colo., had concerns about putting down a big chunk of money for leasehold improvements on a building they didn't own. But financially, they realized it was the smartest thing to do, especially with all the competition the team faced in the area.